438 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



it is thouslit tljat tiiis nuj;lil iiavc Ixhui duo to tlio snuill (nmntilics present. 

 Solul)le carboliydrates, most of wliicli yield uuicic acid upon oxidation, were 

 connnonly i»resent, and in tlie case of a few seeds they were determined, raffinose 

 being isolated from wheat and lui)eose from yellow and blue lupines. I'entosans 

 were not found to occur to a greater extent than 1 per cent in any case, and in 

 many seeds none at all was isolated. 



The presence of soluble carbohydrates in many seeds is lielieved to indicate 

 that they are particularly suitable for tlie nutrition of the young plant, as 

 there can be little doubt that tlieso serve as reserve materials and are broken 

 down into simpler sugars during germination. Insoluble carbohydrates, sucli as 

 starches, celluloses, and hemicelluloses, were found present in the decorticated 

 seeds. Studies of the seed coats showed very small quantities of soluble carbo- 

 hydrates. They appear to be composed mainly of nitrogen-free substances, of 

 which hemicelluloses are present in considerable quantities. The rest of the 

 seed coats consisted of cellulose, wood gum, lignin, and various indefinite sub- 

 stances. 



Phosphoric acid in leaves of plants, J. Seissl {Ztschr. Laiulw. Ycrsuchsw. 

 Osten:, 12 (1909), No. //, pp. lo7-lG7; ah.s. in Jour. Chnn. Soc. [London], 96 

 {1909), No. 564, II, p. 82//). — An investigation has been made on the occurrence 

 of phosphoric acid in the leaves of various plants at different stages of 

 growth, the total phosphorus being estimatedc together with the proportion of 

 phosphorus which is iiresent in organic combinations. It was found that as a 

 rule the phosphorus content of the leaves reached its maximum at the period of 

 greatest growth, after which there was a steady decrease until autumn. In the 

 case of the maple the total phosphorus reached its maximum content in August. 

 Red leaves were found to contain less phosphorus than green ones from the 

 same plant. 



The nature of chlorophyll {dnrd. Chron., 3. so:, ',6 (1909), No. 1197, p. 

 380). — A summary is given of some observations by Willstatter on the nature 

 of chlorophyll, in which it is shown that a certain proportion of magnesium is 

 always present in the chlorophyll molecule, and that the worli of chlorophyll in 

 forming starch and sugar from carbon dioxid and water is in some way con- 

 nected with the magnesium which it contains. The observations have shown 

 that magnesium is a constant component of chlorophyll derived from plants of 

 every class, and in the form of magnesium oxid it has been obtained to the 

 extent of 6 per cent when the chlorophyll was burnt to ash. Tt is stated that 

 the reason why the presence of magnesium in chlorophyll has not been previ- 

 ously demonstrated is due to the fact that acids have been usually employed in 

 the preparation of pure chlorophyll. If alkalis are used it is possible to obtain 

 from chlorophyll well-crystallized products that are magnesium salts of car- 

 boxylic acids. 



The influence of spraying or dusting- with fungicides or fertilizing mate- 

 rials on the growth of plants, L. Hiltneb (Prakt. Bl. Pflansctibau u. Schutz, 

 )i. sri:, 7 (1909). Nos. 2. pp. 17-22, fig. 1; 3. pp. 29-33; 5. pp. 6.')-69).— On ac- 

 count of the extensive use of fungicides and insecticides the author has studied 

 their effect on plant growth, comparing some of the substances used as fungi- 

 cides as well as a number of others which are applied as fertilizers. 



In a series of experiments with plants sensitive to lime it was found that 

 spraying such plants as lupines with iron sulphate solution was decidedly 

 beneficial to their growth when grown in lime soils. The same was true of 

 peas and vetches, and particularly so of Lathy rus sylvesiris. which was much 

 greener after the spi-aying and made better growth. Ijipine plants that had 

 become green after spraying with iron sulphate solution again became chlo- 



